http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-...very-nba-coach

13. Dwane Casey

Team: Toronto Raptors

Rating: 6.0

Comment: Casey came out of Dallas and said all the right things. He was going to preach defense. He was going to implement a winning culture. He was going to do things the right way.

And really, some of that happened and some of it didn't but for the most part, three weeks into last year, it looked like Casey might not survive the year.

And then the Rudy Gay trade happened, and sometimes in basketball, everything just clicks. Here's the trick to this. It's not that things magically came together and Casey had nothing to do with it, nor is it absolutely, black-and-white true that he wasn't doing a good job when the team struggled before. It's both. And that kind of leads to where we are with Casey.

When things are going great, he's phenomenal. When things aren't going great, you wonder if he's part of the issue. But that also overlooks how much Casey has grown as a head coach over the past three years. For starters, Casey fought with Kyle Lowry, but not only did the two eventually come to terms, they really bonded, and that was a big part of Lowry coming back in free agency.

Casey's discipline and culture-building have been great, and he allowed the team to really ride the good vibes last year. He's excited for his guys and shows emotion in the right doses, and is hard on them in the right amounts as well. The biggest criticism might be his inability to make adjustments both in-game and in playoff series, but that's an area he can make improvements in pretty easily, it would seem.

Casey could very well vault himself into that "hot commodities" tier with another solid year. There was always an air of "is this for real?" with the Raptors last year. If they come out and win the division again, that won't be there, and the Raptors may have actually built something, with Casey as a pillar in their House of North.